Shankar Dayal Sharma Quotes

18 Sourced Quotes

It was to take seven more years before the Constituent Assembly became a reality. This was a period which saw dramatic developments not merely in India but throughout the world. In India, our Freedom Struggle was at its peak in 1942 during the historic Quit India Movement. Internationally, there was a fundamental transformation in the geo-political situation after the Second World War. The world was in a state of flux when our peaceful and non-violent struggle attained success. It was a struggle led by women and men of character, leaders who had braved the trials and tribulations of colonial rule and had undergone tremendous suffering and hardship.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
We must recognize that human development today is poised at the cross roads. The choices we make and the paths we seek to follow will determine how humanity will exist in the generations to come... Children, their welfare and development, are a subject unique in significance and compelling urgency. Representing as they do our lives relived, we need to devote to them the utmost attention.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
There is a predicament of 'the girl child'. From Life expectancy to literary rates, from school enrollment ratios, from employment to inheritance, there is hardly any society in the world where women are treated at par with men. This wrong and unfortunate discrimination is extended to the girl child.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
Holders of public offices should set salutary example of rectitude and of high standards of personal conduct and accountability.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
Our constitution, in essence, represents our national philosophy. The Constitution voices the social, economic and political covenant entered into by and for ourselves as equal citizens of our Republic.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
India received the light of Christianity as early as 52 AD when St. Thomas the apostle preached the gospel in Kerala. This was centuries before Christianity reached Europe.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
Communalism begets communalism. Ultimately, none gain; all lose, when communal thinking holds sway over us.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
Already, in the decades before Independence our people were giving thought to their vision of an Independent India. Pandit Motilal Nehru drafted the well-known Nehru Report on the Constitution of free India. The Karachi Session of the Indian National Congress held in March, 1931 adopted the famous Resolution moved by Mahatma Gandhi which contained our charter on Fundamental Rights. It is against this historical backdrop of a long and arduous struggle and the crystallization of our vision of a sovereign, democratic nation that the first session of the Constituent Assembly was held in 1946, when, as Panditji said, we embarked on the high adventure of giving shape, in the printed and written word, to a nation's dream and aspiration.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
Our Constitution has given us the framework for a strong nation, a Union of States; a nation of harmony between the Union and States and between the various institutions of our democratic polity. We can claim to have achieved significant success in the diverse and inter-connected spheres of democratic governance, our Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary. The philosophy of the Constitution nurtures a polity where the precepts and practices of democracy can become second nature to the people. Through the elections to eleven Lok Sabhas, the people of India have repeatedly displayed their determination to fulfil their duties as responsible citizens of the Republic.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
The democratic outlook is strengthened by such awareness of experience accumulated through history in different parts of the world.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
Independent of the relative intrinsic merits of the by-law ordinances proposed, promulgating these ordinances would appear to be inappropriate and contrary to the canons of constitutional propriety in view of circumstances existing at this particular juncture.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
There was a sense of mission in the members of the Constituent Assembly to draft a Constitution which would preserve the pluralism and essential oneness, and the unity and integrity of India. Our Constitution ensures that India remains a secular State. People belonging to different religious denominations who are all part of our vibrant pluralistic society, are guaranteed the freedom to practice their own religions. I might add that these Rights under our Constitution are available even to those who are not citizens of India.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
[We are] the two great nations of broad-mindedness and wisdom that had pioneered human civilization. We will surely bring a cooperative and constructive partnership into the 21st century.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
We must all comprehend the importance of unity, the true significance of canons of propriety and the value of having the freedom to voice different viewpoints which, indeed, are the hallmarks of any pluralistic society. As our sages of yore said, our aims are common, our endeavours common, and there are diverse ways to reach our goals.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
We are continuing our endevours to normalize relations with China on the basis of mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, and non-interference in each other's internal affairs. We hail the restoration of normal relations between Japan and China and we hope that it will contribute to peace and security in Asia.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
The message of India to our neighbourhood and to the rest of the world has been and will be peace, friendship and cooperation. Our commitment from time immemorial has been:
May All secure happiness
May all enjoy good health
May all experiences goodness around them
Let none be in pain or sorrow.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
Pluralism has been central to India's intellectual and spiritual heritage from ancient times. Respect for all religions and recognition of all religions as equally valid paths to truth constitute a national tradition.

Shankar Dayal Sharma
When our Constitution was adopted on 26th November, 1949 our statesmen and visionaries had said that the Constitution is as good or bad as people who are entrusted to administer it, wish it to be.

Shankar Dayal Sharma